Wow!  That is probably the simplest way of summing up all the information that was released today by Sony regarding Playstation 3.  In the previous months, it seems Sony has had a wall of silence up, leaving the media to speculate on PS3, yet today that curtain was lifted, and they finally gave us the answers we have been looking for since day one.  The launch date was officially pushed back from the Spring 2006, which looked unlikely, to now a November 2006 launch, which will for sure make it the must have gift for the 2006 holiday season.  We also have learned that PS3 will require a hard drive, specifically a 60 GB HDD, supporting a Linux OS.  It was not confirmed whether or not the hard drive will ship with all units, though IGN is now reporting that the hard drive will come standard with all units.

Regarding the PS3 Online Service, the initial service will include community tools, featuring lobby matching, voice chat, and “commerce features that includes bootable software via the hard drive.”  These features will all be free, yet it is very likely that a premium subscription service will be added shortly after the launch.  The one major piece of information left out in the conference was price.  No pricing information was discussed, leaving this to widely be speculated.  Experts can not seem to agree, saying anywhere between $400-600.  The final PS3 development kits are scheduled to be shipped out by June to 15 different companies, who will be responsible for creating middleware and SDK tools.

Overall, today was a great day for Playstation 3.  We learned a lot of new information today, and a lot of the previous rumors floating around the web have now been confirmed or denied.  The lack of a price being announced was disappointing, but with all the new information, I think there will be plenty for gamers to talk about for the next couple of months.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 6:18 pm and is filed under PS3 News. You can comment on this article.